The multi-award winning short film Reel Life, written and directed by Keystone Law lawyer, Laurence Relton has been released on Amazon Prime Video Direct, as a pilot to an upcoming four part series.
Alongside his legal practice, Laurence is a professional screen writer and has written on several TV shows including My Family and School of Comedy. He also co-wrote two sell-out West End shows The Ornate Johnsons at the Soho Theatre and The Ornate Johnsons’ Edwardian Spectacular.
First released in 2013, Reel Life starts as a high-concept romantic comedy where boy – who happens to be a Keystone lawyer – meets girl, they fall in love, only for girl to discover that boy’s life is edited like a movie and plays out entirely within film.
The film stars Nazneen Contractor (Star Trek Into Darkness, Ransom, 24); Adam Sinclair (Rizzoli & Isles; 24: Live Another Day and Mile High); Anthony Head, best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Merlin and celebrity interior designer, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
For the main lawyer protagonist Oliver, played by Sinclair, all the world is – quite literally – ‘a stage’ and when love interest Maddy walks into his life she is taken on a fantastical journey of jump cuts, musical montages and exciting star cameos. It’s a glossy, polished and aspirational existence, without any of life’s banalities, boring bits and bathroom breaks. All seems like a dream come true. Until the drawbacks of unexpected plot turns, unwelcome dialogue censoring and unprofessional continuity errors surface. And then there’s the fact that Oliver never quite knows what genre of film he’s going to be in next.
Following on from the pilot, four more parts of Oliver’s life will be showcased on Amazon, each an entirely new genre.
Laurence said:
“The language of film is so readily understood by the viewer. I wanted to explore what it would be like for someone to be genuinely put through a montage or a jump cut or enforced dubbing. All the tricks of the filmmaker. I also wanted to look at whether the fantasy world we are presented with at our local multiplexes – that we are made to aspire to – is actually better than real life. I have to say thanks Keystone which has supported me throughout the process. I am living proof of the firm’s motto, Law Set Free!”